Boxer Lamont Peterson tests positive for testosterone

World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson has tested positive for synthetic testosterone, jeopardizing his May 19 title defense against England’s Amir Khan at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and Peterson’s promoter, Richard Schaefer.

Kizer and Schaefer confirmed the positive result for synthetic testosterone and are now awaiting a letter Tuesday explaining the result from Peterson’s attorney, both men said.

After reviewing that letter, the Nevada commission will decide whether to conduct a special meeting or “whether there will be a fight or not,” Schaefer said in a Tuesday morning conference call with reporters.

Peterson (30-1-1, 15 knockouts), who defeated Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) in a controversial decision in December in his hometown of Washington, D.C., has upset Schaefer by not reporting the positive results of his first “A” sample, which was established April 13.

Kizer said the second “B” sample was also identified as positive on May 2.

Typically, as in the recent case of Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title challenger Alistair Overeem, Nevada’s commission will suspend fighters who submit a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs for nine months.

The testing was performed by the new Las Vegas-based organization Voluntary Anti-Doping Assn., operated by former chief Nevada ringside physician Dr. Margaret Goodman and ex-commissioner Flip Homanski, with the samples identified as positive at UCLA’s drug lab.

Kizer said it was astonishing to him that he was left to inform Schaefer, HBO, Mandalay Bay and the sanctioning bodies of Peterson’s positive result, when VADA and/or Peterson’s team should have done so.

Schaefer, said Kizer, is in the process of finding an emergency replacement should one be necessary.

“We’ll follow where the athletic commission stands,” Schaefer said.

Kizer painted a grim picture for Peterson, telling The Times that Peterson’s attorney, Jeff Fried, reported to Kizer that after the “B” sample came back as positive, Peterson remembered using a product known as testosterone pellets after getting a prescription for the substance from a Las Vegas doctor in October 2011 — first using the product before his first Khan fight.

[Updated at 11:17 a.m.: Khan’s father, Shah, said he would wait for the Nevada commission to rule on Peterson’s eligibility for May 19, but added, “If (Peterson) used that before the first fight, it should be ruled a no-contest.”]

Kizer said testosterone pellets are usually used for bad menstrual cramping and absorb through the skin when left underneath a person’s underarm.

Schaefer did not discuss when Peterson began using the substance on his conference call, or whether he’s interested in forwarding that information to the Washington, D.C. boxing commission for a possible appeal of the first bout.

Peterson does not have a license to fight in Nevada, and Kizer said an admission of use will not alter Nevada’s likely move to suspend the fighter.

Khan, meanwhile, is in the process of sparring and training under Freddie Roach at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.

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Lamont Peterson tests positive for testosterone